In July, a woman doctor from Harvard quarreled with Ou Ning, the cultural curator, in Weibo and Douban, which attracted a series of attention from Peng Xiaoyun and Liao Weitang. There are many words such as "elite", "upscale" and "intellectual" in the quarrel. The focus of their argument is the "Bishan Plan".
On June 5th, 2011, the project "Bishan Plan" was officially launched in Guangzhou Times Art Museum, which will hold a series of various activities to explore the new possibilities of rural reconstruction in Huizhou and seek a new rural construction model with multiple functions. China Business News summarized it as the social practice of contemporary intellectuals moving to the countryside.
Bishan Village in yi county, Anhui Province is a typical Huizhou village with white walls and black tiles, and the mountains behind it are often shrouded in fog. Sponsors Ou Ning and Zuo Jing chose this place to mobilize some intellectuals to jointly conduct life experiments here, create a utopia and establish an independent visual system, as well as a life system, an architectural system and a communication system — — We are even going to design passports, social flags and clothes.
This original intention is because this artist from the countryside of Suixi County, Guangdong Province now has a new understanding of the countryside. When Ou Ning was a child, he hated the countryside very much. He studied hard just to escape. But when his works gained international recognition and he found a place in the city, he became older and older. Instead, he felt that his poor rural life was a valuable asset. Therefore, he wants to care about rural construction and do something for the countryside.
In the past three years, under the impetus of Ou Ning and others, Bishan Village has established Bishan Bookstore and Pig Bar, held Bishan Harvest Festival and Baigong Festival in Qianxian County, which has also attracted the attention of the media and non-governmental organizations. People from the Asia Society of the United States have been making documentaries for two consecutive years. In the documentary series "Sir" with the theme of the Republic of China, Yan Yangchu took Ou Ning as a realistic case to continue the rural construction of the Republic of China, and Southern People Weekly also launched "with Bishan as the focus at the beginning of this year. However, he told the media pessimistically that "the Bishan Plan will eventually fail". Ou Ning realized that it was difficult to change the villagers’ ideas, and there was a shortage of talents and funds for rural construction. Bishan Village didn’t even have street lamps.
Interior of Zhulan Bar in Bishan Village
Bishan village
In the third year of the implementation of the "Bishan Plan", 45-year-old Ou Ning met another "challenge". The "challenger" was Zhou Yun, who was 20 years younger than himself. This Nanjing girl was sent to Peking University as an Urdu major because of her excellent grades. In 2011, Zhou Yun was accepted by Harvard University in the United States, and now she is studying for a doctorate in sociology. On July 2nd, she came to Bishan as a member of the China Studies International Summer School of Nanjing University to discuss the Bishan Project with more than 40 friends.
During this period, Zhou Yun issued more than ten Weibo queries about the "Bishan Plan" and issued a document "Whose village, whose community? — — Taste, Partition and Bishan Plan ",Ou Ning issued a response, and the two sides exchanged favors, which was wonderful. Even attracted Ou Ning kindred spirit, Hong Kong poet Liao Weitang to help out. There are also young scholars who have divergent thoughts of "mujun_soc" and "Changting", and write an article to discuss whether it is appropriate for Zhou Yun to emphasize his learning experience of Peking University and Harvard many times in his article.
The comments of an anonymous reader brought people’s attention back to the "Bishan Project" from their academic qualifications and words. From his words, it seems that he has been to Bishan Village. This reader recommended the practice of comprehensive agricultural cooperatives in Puhan rural community in Yongji, Shanxi Province. "They started to mobilize the villagers by teaching rural women to dance and organizing mahjong competitions, and then organized collective production, established youth farms, collectively purchased fertilizer seeds, solved children’s enrollment, solved agricultural products sales, and organized agricultural and sideline products processing. This is a rural construction with farmers and agricultural production as the main body." Speaking of the "Bishan Project", he thinks it is just a fetish for cultural relics and a way of life. "If the Bishan plan really intends to build a rural area, it is good to teach farmers to open Taobao shops and sell ham, bamboo shoots, tea and earth eggs with the popularity of the Bishan plan. Maybe the money for street lamps has already been earned." The reader talked about it at the end.
Whose village, whose community? — — Taste, distinguishAnd the Bishan plan
weekRhyme (Weibo ID: Yi Yin Qing Xia Douban ID: Yi Ru)
Zhou Yun
Ou Ning
1. Questioning the Bishan Plan is because the founder said that he wanted to establish Bishan Community and talk about "villagers’ autonomy", but the PPT introduced the concept in English, full of big words such as civil society, social engineering, party politics and so on, and constantly mentioned western allusions such as Walden Lake, Skinner and The Last Whole Earth Catalog; The book with special emphasis on remembering ideas is Moleskine. All the details and Status Symbol are constantly creating cultural differences, excluding real villagers. Even, it is not only villagers who are excluded, but also ordinary citizens who do not have economic and cultural capital in the city. So, when we say "community", whose "community" is this?
The aesthetics of "Bishan Plan" is extremely elitist; What I try to please is the interest of middle-class intellectuals, but I can see "blooming rape flowers" after a short leave from the noisy city. There is no street lamp in Bishan Village, and the villagers really want it — — However, tourists who come to Bishan from outside think that they can see the stars without street lamps. The villagers want to open small shops, build roads, engage in cultural tourism and sell tickets to generate income, all of which are not recognized by elite intellectuals, and can even be said to be disdainful (of course, like Nanjing pioneer bookstore, a notebook with a leather cover in Bishan Bookstore costs 108 yuan). Elite intellectuals come to the countryside to find their own paradise. Here, the individual’s life path is not judged. However, when the "plan" is formed, the imagination of the rural areas in this process becomes a kind of other, which can even be compared with the western gaze on the "East". Finally, there are ethical issues behind the "rural construction" experiment — — The countryside, whose countryside is it? Who should decide the development direction of the village? However, the vigilance of thinking about rural construction ethics is completely absent in all discussions.
2. Talk with the village committee. Speaking of the Bishan Project, the village committee used a completely different set of words: it constantly emphasized "developing the cultural industry in Bishan Village", and invited the "teachers" in the city to "build us and package us", establish a museum of farming culture, and "build a cultural village and a leisure resort". When chatting with the villagers in the village, the ordinary villagers’ statement is another set: "It’s just that a group of city people come to us to buy and build houses, which has nothing to do with us." Elite intellectuals flaunt "leaving capital" to establish a "utopia", while rural administrators emphasize "developing cultural industries" and "attracting tourists", while ordinary villagers seem to be out of all this-this is a story about power, social structure and various capitals (cultural capital, social capital and economic capital).
3. In Bishan Village, I visited the farmer’s bookstore and saw the women dancing in the square dance in the village hall at night-everyone can participate without spending money, which may really enrich the cultural life of the villagers. However, there is still no street lamp in Bishan Village. When you go out at night, you can see fireflies, which is very beautiful. However, after dinner, a group of people go to buy fruit. After the rain, it is difficult to move without street lamps. The villagers were kind enough to send a ride with a flashlight. Before nine o’clock, everything was quiet.
Bishan Village Peasant Bookstore and Bishan Project Product — — Bishan bookstore
4. To make it clear here, I never question the founder’s own life choice, let alone criticize his heart: I think others’ character and intentions are vicious. I don’t question the so-called "initial heart" advertised by the founder himself and the small group. All questions are only aimed at the self-satisfaction and self-sublimity of the elite class, and the consumption and regeneration of elite culture, symbolic boundary and inequality in this set of words. There is nothing wrong with the "spirit", "compassion" and "kind heart" advertised by the founders. Even intellectuals think that their own spirit is the soul and spirit worth adhering to. Although this is debatable, it is also acceptable as an individual’s values. However, it is precisely that this set of words itself is elitist and class-oriented, and it is to oppose and isolate itself from the villagers as others. This vigilance is my perspective as a sociologist.
5. Speaking of a bar that is not part of the Bishan Plan in the official discourse, but is closely related, Uncle Muraguchi said, "They have nothing to do with us, so let’s do it behind closed doors … …”
The management mode of the bar is purely the personal choice of the operator, so I won’t comment on it here. But from this, we can see that from beginning to end, this is not a story about "community", but a story about "division"
6. Put another report, it seems that the media interviewed the founder himself:
Some voices think that my mention of "street lamp" vs "looking at the stars" is out of context (even malicious). You can read the words in this report:
"The most obvious example is the street lamp. The strongest desire of all villagers is to install street lamps, which can not only illuminate, but also be a face-saving project — — Bright lights mean economic development. However, poets who come from other places will be very disappointed if they see street lamps: they can’t see the stars. "
As mentioned above, at night in Bishan, it is difficult to move without street lamps. In fact, it is not only difficult, but also quite dangerous — — On the way back, my colleagues and I almost turned a pond full of duckweeds in front of our residence into a concrete flat that can be cut short. However, here, the villagers’ desire for street lamps is said to be the pursuit of "face project" — — What is the meaning and implication of face engineering in China at present? So, who is in the heart?
In this report, there is also opposition to "Gentrification". Not to mention that "Gentrification" itself is extremely complicated for the advantages and disadvantages of different interest groups, that is to say, the foothold against gentrification in Bishan Plan is not the wishes and livelihood of the villagers themselves (farmers themselves want to be gentrification, because they can generate income after forming the tourism industry), but the urban elite of intellectuals think that "there will be no farmers in the village" after "gentrification". There is no "proper" appearance in the countryside-in this rural construction movement, are farmers the main body of the countryside, or are they "aesthetic objects" to satisfy the elites’ imagination of the countryside and the intellectuals’ going to the countryside?
Similarly, in the whole report, the Bishan project presents a strong imagination of "what the countryside should be like", and even a overlooking mentality of "we only know what is good for you" for the villagers. And this kind of imagination and overlooking mentality is filled with the perspective of an outsider who has become an urban elite — — The unconscious elitism superiority behind this mentality is also the focus of this article’s criticism. However, is there really a "should have" look in the countryside? Do farmers really have the appearance of "should have" Even if there is, who should decide what a village looks like? What farmers are like, what they do, and how they live are "right". Who should decide?
The founder of the Bishan Project is disgusted with Xidihong Village, thinking that the villagers "grab business and sell fake antiques at the entrance of the village" — — On the one hand, urban elite intellectuals dislike and despise "villagers grabbing business at the entrance of the village", but Bishan Bookstore also sells expensive souvenirs. In addition, urban elite intellectuals come to Bishan to run expensive country inns. They are all business, management and life, but life gives them the difference and difference in value order, feelings and tastes. How can the logic be self-consistent?
Although the development of Xidi and Hongcun is not perfect, it has to be admitted that compared with the "Bishan Community" with a hollow name, the villagers have at least participated in and benefited from the development of Xidi and Hongcun, while Xidi and Hongcun are more accessible to the "ordinary people" whose urban income and education level are lower than those of elite intellectuals. When criticizing Xidi and Hongcun for "performing" their lives, isn’t "Celebrating the Year with Green Mountains" really another form of performance?
Finally, I quote a passage from my senior brother as a summary: "Both Liang Shuming and Yan Yangchu’s rural construction movements are trying to integrate into the daily life of the villagers as much as possible — — Take the villagers as the center, not intellectuals or grass-roots political power as the center. Novelty guidance and fresh packaging from intellectuals may bring a lot of interesting experience, but this is not a real rural construction movement, and it is difficult to achieve the desire of "re-energizing the countryside and recreating the idea of agricultural hometown."
This article is not about personal behavior. To put it bluntly, it is aimed at some kind of unconscious overlooking and unconscious elitism superiority, and there is no reflection and introspection. China’s rural development, up to now, really shouldn’t exist the imagination of "what the countryside should be like", even the imagination itself is an outsider’s perspective. I don’t object to opening a country inn with a night of more than 1,000 yuan and selling notebooks with a price of 108 yuan. I also don’t object to the villagers opening their own shops to generate income and wanting street lamps and repairing roads. What I object to, or think should be vigilant, is to give these two behaviors a value order and a difference in feelings. I don’t object to the development of economy in rural areas according to local conditions, but I object to copying a set of class inequality words in the process of development. Everyone in the Bishan Project, from capital businessmen to rural managers, has a set of words, whether it is a spiritual utopia or a cultural industry tourism village. In the discussion we heard, the only missing voice is the voice of the villagers living here.
On the way back from Bishan Bookstore, I was dragged into the yard by an old man to chat. I asked him, "Does Bishan Plan have anything to do with you?"
"It doesn’t matter. I have no idea. "
Speaking of the old house of the old man’s family for more than 400 years, I asked him: "Someone wants to buy this house, will you sell it?"
The old man replied, "Yes, I don’t sell it. It was handed down from my ancestors. Why should I sell it?"
Such villagers are also residents of this village, but in many cases, they are squeezed into aphasia and silence by capital, power and culture.
Say a few more words about elitism:
Chatting with friends born in rural Anhui, talking about rape blossoms, he mentioned a point that was very enlightening. He said that in the eyes of viewers, what they see is brilliant rape blossoms, but in the eyes of farmers, what they see is a set of procedures from seed selection-sowing-harvesting-selling money (if the year is not good, they can’t sell money) — — One is aesthetic logic, the other is survival logic. This is not to say that aesthetic logic is wrong — — What this article wants to say is precisely that the same thing, because of the difference in the position of the viewer in society, the focus of attention is very different. It’s like villagers want street lamps, but foreign tourists and intellectuals will think that without street lamps, they can see stars. The core of this article is to say that the so-called elite intellectuals must also have introspection about their structural position.
I don’t really like to inject too much personal feelings and emotions into the review articles — — It’s easy to evolve into: "I’ll tell you the truth, you tell me the emotions;" You talk to me about logic, and I talk to you about feelings. But at this point, say a few personal words:
Looking back on my own growth experience, I have always received an extremely elitist education since I was a child. One of the great characteristics of elitism education is that it keeps telling you, "You are different from others" — — There is a procedure for the entrance ceremony of undergraduate freshmen, that is, everyone wears the P-big school emblem together in the school song. This program is very ceremonial, because after wearing the school emblem, the teacher will say affectionately, "From then on, you will become ‘ P adult ’ " ; At the entrance ceremony of Harvard doctoral freshmen, the first sentence of the president’s speech was congratulations. Congratulations on your finally made it, the best of the best. Elite education also stresses feelings, ideals and services. However, when it stresses feelings, ideals and services, it is always based on the premise that "you are different from them" (for example, "how to serve the people", the implication of this statement is actually to separate yourself from the "people"). Then, among them, if you are not careful, once you go astray, your feelings, ideals and services will become those with a sense of overlooking and superiority, even a "salvation mentality" — — So the generated and copied,It is still the original inequality and separation.
My criticism of elitism is naturally my own values. Of course, elite (although the essence of "elite" is very vague), elite education and elitism are not "original sins" — — However, if we talk about "community" and inclusiveness at the same time, a set of elitist words will generate new inequalities, divisions and exclusion)；; If we talk about villagers’ autonomy, we have an imagination and overlooking mentality of "we just know what the countryside should look like" — — Then the self-contradiction and inconsistency among them become the space for the viewer to criticize and question.
Following the above words, I saw some criticisms and mentioned why I always talk about my "sociological perspective": the same thing, because of the academic background, growth experience, thinking mode, etc., naturally looks at different results. My "sociological perspective" is precisely to set the scope of my theory (so-called scope) before all discussions. Of course, sociologists are not a homogeneous whole, and the "sociological perspectives" of different sociologists are also very different — — This is the same as the composition of students in P University and H University: if there are peers who don’t like my theory and writing, it is normal like any dissent, and I am very happy to communicate.
Finally, this essay is not a paper — — It is an essay based on limited observation and has certain academic significance. This article, from the depth and breadth of data, to the theory and analysis of writing, to a friend’s suggestion that I "like to use big words" in the comments, naturally has its own limitations. However, sometimes I think about what is the biggest gain that academic training has brought me at present — — Perhaps, even after a paper has been criticized, revised and "abused" by tutors, peers and Reviewer from all angles, when facing the limitations of this society and the world, we can also be as calm as possible about our imperfections and incompetence.
Finally, I must clarify one point: the opinions in this article only represent me personally. It has nothing to do with the summer school of N University. Thank you for the opportunity provided by the summer school of N University and the painstaking arrangement with the teachers of the Social College of N University.
Ou Ning responded to Zhou Yun’s query about Bishan Plan.
Ou Ning
Let me tell you what happened.
On July 2nd, a female doctor from Harvard came to Bishan as a member of the China Studies International Summer School of Nanjing University. Lu Yuan, the leader of this class, told me that there were more than 40 people, "doctoral students and young scholars from more than 30 universities and research institutions around the world", "seven or eight foreigners, and others were overseas students and young scholars from China". I hope I can share the Bishan plan with them. Lu Yuan originally wanted to arrange this sharing in the coffee shop on the second floor of Bishan Bookstore. I felt that there was no room there, so she contacted Hanyu of the pigsty bar, and she agreed to provide the venue and projector of the pigsty bar 3 and provide simple tea. I asked Lu Yuan what language he spoke, and he said that most members of the summer school could speak Chinese. I chose the English PPT prepared for a seminar in new york University last month, because my Chinese PPT about Bishan Project has not been updated for a long time, and I have no time to prepare Chinese PPT in one day.
In the first half, I shared all kinds of ideological resources borrowed from the Bishan Project and the utopian practice and rural community construction experience in different parts of the world that I studied and referred to. Many of these are my personal interests and some ideas that I hope may be put into the experiment of Bishan Project. The sharing in the second half is what we have done and made in Bishan. I said that what Bishan Plan wants to do can be summarized by three key words: rural construction, cultural production and social engineering. The former is to continue the rural construction practice of Yan Yangchu and Liang Shuming since the Republic of China, the second is that we are good at it within our ability, and the third is to explore the possibility of interaction between art and society. Then I talked about practicing Utopia. I first shared my understanding of different political models (from party politics to civil society to the crisis failure of public fields to the possibility of "abnormal life politics" relying on people’s wisdom and people’s strength), and then introduced some utopia practitioners I noticed in history, especially some hippie communes and ecological villages I visited in New Zealand. These hippie communes and eco-villages are secluded alternative communities, but their exploration of sustainable agriculture, cooperative living and public decision-making is very enlightening to rural areas in China today. I also introduced the concept of the magazine "Winter Banquet" published by French Alphabetists. One thing that the gift economy in North American tribes has in common with the tradition of mutual assistance in rural China is that money is not used, which has something to do with my later statement that I want to issue time coupons in Bishan.
Then "A Sound of Summer" launched her "Query on Bishan Plan" on Weibo and Douban. If the criticism is based on respecting the facts and in-depth investigation, I am really willing to discuss it with her. However, she deliberately distorted my original words into the opposite meaning, grabbed some superficial phenomena with colored glasses, so as to embed her sociological theory, in order to achieve her personal purpose of making a blockbuster (or "making a sound in the summer" like her pseudonym). Who doesn’t hate those who don’t want villagers to repair street lamps so that they can see the stars? ! Who doesn’t hate people who show off luxury notebooks? ! What English PPT do you use in the countryside? Do you pretend to be an elite and force yourself to die? ! The pigsty bar is expensive, and Bishan Bookstore sells coffee. Isn’t this a living example of the theory of "separation" mentioned by the sociology teacher in the university classroom? ! These "evidences" that can provoke the G-spot hatred most are wrapped in theoretical words such as Othering, Symbolic Boundary, and spilled on our heads like stinky dung. She may be worried that the "criticized object" can’t understand what else is, and she recently forwarded a picture to make it clear.
Regarding "street lamps vs watching stars", Li Si Pan, a member of the summer school, has confirmed my original meaning:
"As a member of the visitors present, I’m sure that when Ou Ning talked about’ looking at the stars’, he just emphasized the urgency and importance of the villagers’ needs. What he said was: Literati may think that they can look at the stars without street lamps, but the villagers are very inconvenient and have no face without street lamps. I’m sorry that I only have the ability to solve the short-term lighting when there are cultural festivals, but I don’t have the funds to solve the street lamp problem. I don’t know why there is such a serious misunderstanding. " (July 4, 00:44)
Now the recording of that day has also been found and posted online. Everyone can go to the hearing. In more than two hours of communication, I only mentioned the word Moleskine once. Whether I mentioned this brand in a ostentatious tone can also be heard. The reason for this notebook was that Moleskine invited me to participate in an exhibition in Shanghai in 2010. They gave me a Moleskine, on which I could write casually and then show it with other people’s notebooks. At that time, I was thinking about how to carry out the Bishan project, so I wrote some reading and research notes and imaginative ideas on it. When sharing the Bishan project with others, I always say this notebook, the purpose is to compare the original ideas, not to show off how expensive this notebook is.
As for using PPT in English in Bishan, it has become a big crime for me. I am afraid that I have touched the privilege of Harvard female doctors. Can’t you use English PPT in rural areas? Do you want Bishan Village to be a primitive society to meet your imagination? Or should I ask you what Othering means before you are satisfied? You’re upset that the pigsty bar is expensive. Do you know how much time, energy and money they spent repairing these old houses? Do you know how many jobs they have solved for the local area and how much tax they have paid? Is Bishan Bookstore guilty of selling cultural and creative products? More than a million yards of books are put here just to show taste? Is it to create a partition? The villager named Fang you quoted said that it was much better than opening casinos and mahjong parlors. You have only been airborne in Bishan for one day. You can’t see the villagers coming to the bookstore to read books, the children coming to the Internet, and you can’t see the villagers visiting my house. First, your time is too short, and second, your heart is too "separated". This is no time to use class struggle to mobilize hatred.
Don’t think that only you can see the main body of the countryside, only those who have been trained in sociology will be wary of division, and we are idiots who only show off "middle class taste" and seek fame and reputation. I’ve said many of your points many times and I’m tired of them, so I think of doing something. Doing things doesn’t mean that I can wait for praise. Living in the countryside and doing the Bishan project can’t make me feel morally superior. I try my best, maybe I am too ambitious, maybe my personal ability or realistic conditions are limited, but I try my best. Failure is nothing to be ashamed of. Intellectuals are not a great force, and the people are not as bitter as you think. People have their own shortcomings, so it is not easy to live in the same place. I have said this statement too much, so I have to repeat it here. In a word, if you want to solve the life dilemma of being trapped in elite education, please don’t deliberately misinterpret others as targets to satisfy your own selfishness, except for deep introspection.
Can elites build a new countryside? — — The controversy of Bishan
Liao Weitang
Ou Ning, a famous cultural person who was born in rural Guangdong, has experienced some disturbances this year: First, Tiannan, a cutting-edge literary magazine he founded, stopped publishing, and then resumed publishing. Recently, a doctor of sociology from Harvard strongly questioned the "Bishan Plan", a new rural movement in which he devoted all his energy, and many people responded.
Tiannan is the best literary magazine with the most international vision in mainland China in recent years. It’s a pity to stop publishing, but I understand that Ou Ning gave up, not only because of the high and low sales volume of literary songs, but also because Ou Ning is more and more inclined to take practical actions. As an active anarchist, his enthusiasm for transforming the world needs to be put into action rather than an armchair strategist, so the "Green Mountain Plan" came into being.
According to the executor’s self-report, the "Bishan Plan" is an idea about intellectuals returning to the countryside, continuing Yan Yangchu’s rural construction and Peter Klopotkin’s anarchism, and reactivating public life in rural areas. It is mainly aimed at the forced urbanization reality in Asia and the crisis caused by global agricultural capitalism, trying to find a way to revive the countryside.
In the eyes of onlookers, simply speaking, this is a new cultural experiment conducted by a group of intellectuals headed by Ou Ning in Bishan Village, yi county, Anhui Province. It is an initiative and avant-garde intellectual movement to go to the countryside. Their goal is to establish a "Bishan Community" based on the spirit of anarchist mutual assistance, and to preserve the farming cultural tradition while developing the rural vitality of Bishan Village. The specific operations include building a "pigsty" bar of Bishan Bookstore.
To be honest, this is really very difficult — — Therefore, it is very easy for the doctor whose pseudonym is "Yi Yin Qing Xia" to question. China’s rural conservative culture is deeply rooted. Village cadres are eager for quick success in developing resources, and local departments are wary of intellectuals. These are all obstacles that will inevitably affect the blueprint of idealism. I can imagine that Ou Ning’s team has to compromise a lot. But because of this, their efforts are valuable.
Dr. Harvard is obviously a more typical sample of the western left-wing "politically correct". She seized the elitism and artist temperament of Ou Ning’s team and strongly questioned the "division" between the latter’s idealism and the actual existence in the countryside. After visiting Bishan for one day, she published articles in Weibo to "expose" what she thought was the class division and the unfair right to speak. However, through her tense words, I am reminded of Mao’s criticism of intellectuals, which is nothing more than old hats such as "divorced from the masses", "petty bourgeoisie and middle class interests" and new hats such as "post-colonialism" and "aesthetic otherness", but she has no suggestions on how to better build Bishan and handle the relationship between intellectuals and local farmers.
What is even more incredible is her own elite imagination: for example, she thinks that the modern art books and high-end academic books sold by Bishan Bookstore are incompatible with farmers, which shows that she has already divided the class boundaries in a preconceived way. She easily projected the original sin and equality anxiety of the intellectuals on the western left on the Bishan Project.
As an experimenter, the team of Bishan Project certainly has all kinds of difficulties. As a poet and artist, Ou Ning does have utopian complex and some elite or "petty bourgeoisie" gestures. The greater danger lies in, for example, the dependence on the art museum system and the dependence on the existing avant-garde community concept. However, if we proceed from the development of Bishan itself, as long as it does not harm the interests and culture of farmers, all these experiments should be encouraged, and critics should correct and discuss the improvement methods based on a helpful attitude. Enlightenment is bound to have both active and passive sides. If it is simply defined as the condescension of class division, all enlightenment can not be done, including Liang Shuming and Yan Yangchu, not to mention Ou Ning?
Respond to Ou Ning
Zhou Yun
Since it is a response and dialogue, I will write it in the second person for Mr. Ou.
Throughout the discussion, I have always made it clear that this criticism is about things and not people. However, seeing your response, I think that Weibo, who has nothing to do with interacting with my friends, is trying to "pour dung" on Bishan, and that I criticize English PPT "even if it touches the privilege of Harvard female doctors", and even you think that I am "too separated in my heart" — — The similar theory of killing the heart is not only unwarranted, but also is still for people and not for things.
"Stars" vs. "Street lamps" are talking about aesthetic separation. And, from Weibo to Douban, from beginning to end, I have always made it very clear that it is "foreign intellectuals" who want to see the stars, not you in particular. However, I also gave you an interview with the media, thinking that the villagers want street lamps, which is a "face project", but this is indeed what you said — — What is the implied meaning of "face project" in the current context of our country? Is it taken for granted that the villagers’ whole thirst for street lamps is the pursuit of face engineering?
Moleskine is talking about status symbol, status symbol and "showing off wealth" in popular semantics, which are completely two concepts. The possession and display of identity marks is itself a way of dividing boundaries. Of course, this may be an academic discourse and understanding, which causes misunderstanding and is quite normal.
Bishan Bookstore is very similar to pioneer bookstore in Nanjing — — In Bishan Bookstore, there is a complete collection of Mr. Qian Mu with a whole bookcase, a cowhide notebook with a price of 108 yuan, and the French "pioneer bookstore" written on the canopy, etc., saying that its aesthetic taste is elite. I wonder where you disagree? To tell the truth, during my two days in Bishan, I didn’t see any villagers come to the bookstore where the ancestral temple was rebuilt-but when I communicated with my friends and neighbors in Douban, I also made it very clear that the sample size was too small after two days of observation, so I never talked about it.
To say that you use English PPT (and PPT is full of big words, and those words are also "big words" when translated into Chinese) and that you mention all kinds of western allusions is to say that the whole set of discourse knowledge, taste and interest are separated — — It is still aimed at the words of Bishan Plan, not you personally. What kind of thoughts and mental journey you have personally, outsiders have no right to judge. However, since we are discussing the Bishan Project, I would like to make one more suggestion: You keep mentioning the experiences of New Zealand, the United States and Japan in your speeches and response articles. This is of course your observation and experience, but a very natural question for listeners and readers is, can these experiences be applied to rural construction in China? In your speech, you said something to the effect, "In order to understand the countryside and rural construction in China, I went to Ithaca … … ",is this a good way to understand rural China? It’s like someone said that I love to apply China with western theories — — This is the limitation brought by my academic training. The other party is right, and I accept it with humility. So, similarly, since it is to build rural areas in China, to what extent are these overseas experiences applicable, how should they be used, and how to avoid "oranges in Huainan are oranges, and those in Huaibei are oranges" — — It is a question that you, as practitioners, have to think deeply.
Talking about stars vs. street lamps, talking about Moleskine, talking about the aesthetic taste of Bishan Bookstore, talking about English PPT and western allusions are all "divisions" that exist in the words of Bishan Project (not yourself). My article, originally an article about cultural reproduction, is based on academic discourse, although it is not a paper. There is a comment on Douban that I love to use big words. I think it is very reasonable and humbly accept it — — My article is really borrowing Bourdieu to talk about division and culture. If you want to be right or wrong, talking about Bourdieu’s division is to engage in class struggle, that is, to incite hatred and poke people at the G-spot — — Not to mention the terrible experience, which forced me to respond very rudely: read more books … …
Let’s talk about some questions that I think you haven’t answered:
You don’t like the development model of Xidihong Village, and you oppose the "Gentrification" that Bishan villagers want. You think that if you do this, there will be no such thing as the countryside — — Then what should the countryside look like? Why do you decide what the countryside should look like? You don’t like the villagers in Xidihong village "pulling business at the entrance of the village", but the pigsty bar is also engaged in profitable operation — — It’s all business and life. Why should you be given the difference in feelings and value order? Among them, how is your logic self-consistent?
Even, to put it bluntly, you said I was airborne Bishan — — In fact, in the end, like me, aren’t you also airborne Bishan? Are you really trying to integrate into the daily life of the villagers like several gentlemen in the Republic of China (it is called "integration" if someone comes to be a guest), and are you really engaged in rural construction centered on villagers rather than intellectuals? Since we want to build a rural "community", how to balance the elitism tendency and cultural division in the planned discourse? Community, whose "community" is it?
Talking about it, having a discussion with the village Committee, the village Committee’s positioning for the development of Bishan is very clear, and it is a "leisure cultural tourism resort" — — The attitude of the village committee towards you and Mr. Zuo Jing is also very clear. It is "a teacher from the city to help build our cultural industry". The village committee also admitted that some villagers have great opinions, and many have reflected problems. Your Bishan plan is different from the development goal of the village Committee and the demands of the villagers — — In this case, I have repeatedly heard you say that you should "stay away from capital, grass-roots governments and NGOs" and emphasize your "idealism" and feelings. However, I don’t know how the community can balance the relationship between rural grass-roots governments and villagers and become an inclusive "rural community" under the current model of China and the specific situation of Bishan.
You said you had communication and discussion with the villagers, which I don’t deny — — However, in the discussion that day, some people also asked questions. The "village representatives" who participated in the discussion were just a few elderly men. In the follow-up Q&A, it is also said that "old men" are often regarded as "wise men" among villagers. If nothing else, let alone the distinction between "wise men" and "non-wise men", let’s say that here, female villagers are also absent and aphasic in your communication discussion — — So, let’s go back to my question. When we look at this rural community from a gender perspective, whose community is it?
Your response to your personal questions and attacks on me is as follows:
You don’t like my "affectionate" memories and reflections on my elite education experience, which is no problem, just as I don’t like the elitism in the discourse of Bishan Plan. But you misinterpreted my intentions unilaterally, even maliciously, and shouted "I guessed you viciously" as a grievance. Then, I am still the same sentence. How can you be self-consistent? Or, is this still the same trick of "only state officials are allowed to set fires, but people are not allowed to light lamps" as the villagers who don’t like pulling business but praise the intellectual elites for going to the countryside to operate?
You said that I forwarded a friend’s Weibo, forwarding it to give you "shit" — — I really don’t know what to say about this, maybe I can only laugh three times — — I’m ready to turn over a page from the online debate, interact with my friend Weibo in my life normally, and I didn’t mention you at all, so you have to catch up and sit by yourself — — Not to mention that this behavior itself is your own criticism of "deliberately misinterpreting others as targets to satisfy your own selfishness." , just say you, really, can you, don’t be so blx and be good at brain tonic? You know, the world and other people’s lives really don’t revolve around you all the time … … You (at least to me) are really not that important.
In fact, many of the sense of superiority of the intellectual elites criticized in my article come from a kind of "self-important" that others are aiming at speculating, bullying and misunderstanding you.
Now, let’s make two more clarifications:
First, you said that my conclusion was to communicate with a villager named Fang — — I don’t know where you got this information. I have never disclosed the identifiable information of the interviewee in any article. The villagers I communicate with are not surnamed Fang (or I can’t admit or deny whether his real name is Fang) — — So, to you, it’s still the same sentence. Since others are emotional when they "misinterpret themselves", they will have less brains to make up for it. Because of the basic ethics of social science research, I know how I can disclose this kind of private identifiable information about the interviewee.
2. My article only represents my own views and has nothing to do with the Nantah Summer School. For Nantah Summer School, I didn’t expect the article to ferment to this point before writing it (after all, my Weibo and Douban are places to communicate with friends, and their attention is limited), but this is indeed my thoughtlessness. I am very sorry if it has caused any impact on the summer school. For Mr. Lu Yuan, thank you very much for your painstaking arrangements in the past two weeks, and thank you for taking care of him all the way to Bishan.
Finally, I would like to say that I never want to discuss a problem with a confrontational attitude: the complexity of the environment in China, the complexity of a problem, and the different perspectives of different people, the impressions we get and the things we see are naturally different. A thing, a plan, a think good, b think bad, this is normal; You think the Bishan plan is very beneficial, and I think there are some points worth discussing — — It is also natural for me to talk about the aspects and reasons that I think are bad and debatable.
You can’t think that others have ulterior motives just because you criticize them — — This is the focus of benign communication.
There are also comments that support you, saying that "doing" is more natural than "saying" — — I don’t want to take this opportunity to flaunt what I have actually done. I want to say that not all "doing" is natural, just and absolutely correct. If it is wrong, is it a proper "doing" if it is all wrong? There is no natural contradiction between "saying" and "doing", and bystanders who put forward critical opinions do not go with the mentality of watching jokes and making sarcastic remarks from practitioners. It’s like criticizing and questioning the Bishan plan, not hoping that you plan to go bankrupt, nor hoping that Bishan Village will "fall down". For the pigsty bar — — I don’t have a hobby of cutting off people’s money. You also mentioned "self-censorship" that day. Since everyone thinks that "self-censorship" is a problem, shouldn’t others be more understanding when practicing their "freedom of speech"?
It’s still my previous sentence. Since you feel wronged, don’t brain-fill other people’s starting points, mentality and intentions.
Writing articles online, I do find that I am often referred to as a "Harvard female doctor" — — When I write my own article criticizing elitism, I will indeed talk about my educational experience in Peking University and Harvard, which is not to "show superiority in disguise" or "oppress others" as some people speculate — — What I want to say is precisely: I used to be a very elitist person myself (even now I still have traces), and I have always been in the elite education system. Not only Peking University and Harvard, but also my primary and secondary schools are places where all kinds of selections are needed for admission, and in a sense, elite education is very important — — I don’t shy away from my own growing experience, and I used to be an elitist, so when I criticize elitism and talk about culture and division, I am actually looking back and reflecting on myself and my environment. It is precisely because of this that I don’t condescend to the opposition between "I" and "you".
My criticism of elitism is naturally my own values. Of course, elite (although the essence of "elite" is very vague), elite education and elitism are not "original sins" — — However, if we talk about "community" and inclusiveness at the same time, a set of elitist words will generate new inequalities, divisions and exclusion)；; If we talk about villagers’ autonomy, we have an imagination and overlooking mentality of "we just know what the countryside should look like" — — Then the self-contradiction and inconsistency among them become the space for the viewer to criticize and question.
That’s all. Finally, I wish you a happy life in Bishan.
Zhou Yun
The starting point of reflection
Mujun_soc (Douban ID: Lebenswell)
Two days ago, Kanru published an opinion on the Bishan Project. I don’t know much about the Bishan project either. Whether it is success or failure, everyone can discuss and criticize. This afternoon, I turned to Mingru and revised my article, adding some contents. The penultimate paragraph is newly added:
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Looking back on my own growth experience, I have always received an extremely elitist education since I was a child. One of the great characteristics of elitism education is that it keeps telling you, "You are different from others" — — There is a procedure for the entrance ceremony of undergraduate freshmen, that is, everyone wears the P emblem in the school song together. This program is very ceremonial, because after wearing the school emblem, the teacher will say affectionately, "From then on, you will become ‘ P adult ’ " ; At the entrance ceremony of Harvard doctoral freshmen, the first sentence of the president’s speech was congratulations. Congratulations on your finally made it, the best of the best. Elite education also stresses feelings, ideals and services. However, when it stresses feelings, ideals and services, it is always based on the premise that "you are different from them" (for example, "how to serve the people", the implication of this statement is actually to separate yourself from the "people"). Then, among them, if you are not careful, once you go astray, your feelings, ideals and services will become those with a sense of overlooking and superiority, even a "salvation mentality" — — So what is generated and copied is still the original inequality and separation.
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I feel particularly uncomfortable. Can’t help but want to say a few more words.
They all look good. You should have the spirit of reflection, not overlooking, a sense of superiority, and a sense of salvation. But I doubt what the starting point of this reflection is.
It’s hard for me to imagine a sociologist’s sense of superiority that needs to be reflected because of his schooling experience when doing surveys and collecting data. Personally, I often feel humble. Yes, sometimes I do tell others for the purpose of "showing off" that I can get in touch with many people and get out a lot of words during the field adjustment. But I know the actual situation best in my heart. Embarrassment goes hand in hand. You are a woman, young, and have never been outside the campus. Studying in the United States, doctor, flattery at the dinner table, the most general social etiquette, nothing is shallower than this. Many people will treat you like a little girl in their hearts, and things too deep can’t be told to you. Because they think that you don’t understand many social things at all.
I really don’t know much. I don’t know how to organize workers to conduct collective bargaining, how to lobby the representatives of the two associations, and how to help the foundation evaluate the project performance of grassroots organizations. Now that I have finished my field work, I dare to talk about these topics among my friends in the academic circle. But I still dare not go to my research object to "teach fish to swim". Education is not very meaningful here. Unless you think it’s good to skim the water, unless you think that sociological analysis is to take a look at things and put on a few academic labels, the hegemony of words and the gaze of others, unless you have never seriously thought about entering other people’s lives, and at the same time let others into your own lives, you won’t be thinking about the school badge that you didn’t go to on your chest all day.
I wrote about my experience of visiting He Xiaobo at work. I said, He Xiaobo was chatting with the aunt who had just lost her son in the ward. Aunt’s husband found out the third phase of pneumoconiosis. She told us vividly how she got her dying son back from the hospital so that he could escape the bad luck of being burned. Xiao-bo He is having fun with her. Some people wrote to me after reading this paragraph, asking if you were particularly miserable at that time, or if you were depressed because you saw too many dark sides of society. No. At that time, I was standing on the edge alone, neither crying nor laughing. I couldn’t comfort people. I wanted to tell the honest old man that I could defend my rights according to law, but I was afraid that his wife would do something on impulse to suffer a greater crime. At this time, I feel that He Xiaobo is more valuable to the society, and sociologists like us are simply a burden. Although He Xiaobo often tells me politely, what do you think of the current situation? You should write your book, which will certainly inspire us.
Do n’t get me wrong I’m not preaching a populist spirit: Peking University and Harbin Buddhism are useless, and truth and wisdom are in the practice of the broad masses of the people at the bottom. In fact, I will criticize before sitting back at my desk. That person’s duplicity, what that person said doesn’t accord with other facts, or discuss why some things have happened, but those people don’t realize it.
But you have to understand that it is another world. These two worlds cannot communicate with each other. The first step for us to understand others is to realize that, oh, we are not in their world at all. Even if we try our best, we can only know a thing or two about what they think and do. Instead of assuming that I, as a unique person with elitist education, have the ability to stand on a high position and overlook, I took a step back out of caution and said, well, I can’t be too superior.
sorry Maybe I shouldn’t say these rude words. You shouldn’t talk so much about your own experience. It seems that I am already a good scholar myself, and I am qualified to tell others how to do research.
However, I can’t help but feel ridiculous when I see Mi Ru repeatedly emphasizing that he is a sociologist’s perspective. Counting the undergraduate course, I have been in sociology for ten years. What is our subject to teach people? Teach people to shout some slogans of reflection and criticism?
A short story that Mi Ru, Mujun and Ou Ning reminded me of.
roadside pavilion for travellers to rest or take shelter in (in ancient China)
A long time ago, there were two intellectuals fighting. One is Ximen Chuixue and the other is Ye Gucheng.
The place to start work is about the top of Bishan Mountain.
They are two sociologists.
Cold wind, murderous look, sword drawn.
The moment before pushing, Ximen Chuixue suddenly turned and turned his back to his opponent. Facing the working masses, he knelt down, kowtowed three times, and a line of tears dripped. Somehow, although he was exposed with an empty net, the sword in Ye Gucheng’s palm could not be stabbed any longer.
Ye Gucheng had to throw the sword, but also turned to the toiling masses and kowtowed three times.
He kowtowed louder and drummed. However, he knelt down, after all, a little later than Ximen Chuixue.
The two swordsmen read four enigmatic sentences to each other:
I am them,
You’re not them,
I represent them,
You can never be them.
Ye Gucheng suddenly vomited blood and died.
The onlookers were stunned — — "You are quick to start work, and talk about the problems in our village!"
Ximen Chuixue said slowly, "You don’t have to start work, your heart is already over.".
— — "The master has made a move, only in the posture of the moment before the shot."
After saying his word, he has disappeared outside the setting sun and in the west wind.
Leave a city empty people, "what happened in our village? Did they fight each other? "
What about Ye Gucheng? You are a beautiful woman, so you can’t be a coach.
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1. I am quite indifferent to the attitude of this matter. Ou Ning’s response was beautifully written, but I responded to this passage at the bottom of her article:
"Whether the question is reasonable or not, it is really boring to start with the words" Harvard female doctor ". Obviously, it is reasonable to say "you are wrong" and add "you are wrong because you just want to see this". In addition to self-defense, it punishes the heart and pushes the skeptics into an elitist situation, and the end is peaceful. Good writing can really cover up a small amount of gas. When did you start to be politically correct before the essence of the project? "
There may be right and wrong in questioning, but it is hard for me to accept that the "prestigious school background" of the questioner is deliberately added in the text, and the "motivation of the questioner" is questioned in turn. Attacking other people’s "motives" is a very poor practice in the debate. After Mao Ru’s first criticism came out, it was about things, not people, and Ou Ning’s response was directly to people. I feel that I am in a weak position after responding.
2. There are many kinds of personalities. Some people are conceited, while others are modest. There is no doubt that modesty is more pleasing. But let conceited people reason arrogantly, modest people reason modestly, arrogant people reason arrogantly, and inferior people reason inferiority. Then we look at the truth itself and the criticism itself. This is my personal attitude towards this matter.
3. I didn’t read Mujun’s article until I formed such an opinion. Mujun has written many good articles, and I admire them. But what I want to say this time is — —
Everyone has defects, and everything and a critical eye have room for improvement; There are many imperfect things in this world, but there are not many correct and important things. The so-called "right and wrong" depends on what is more worthy of criticism besides criticism. Not all problems, big and small, should be sorted out.
I don’t think it’s a big problem for a Harvard graduate from Peking University, even if he really said in his article, "Assuming that he is a unique person with elite education and has the ability to stand on a high position and overlook, and then he took a step back out of caution and said, Well, I can’t be too superior." No one is perfect and has different personalities. It is rare for a person who is really educated by the elite to have a sense of cautious introspection. In other people’s arguments, point to the weak side and say "your modesty is not perfect" — — Is this criticism correct? Exactly. Is it justified? Not necessarily justified.
4, this paragraph is just playing smart. Both Mi Ru and Mujun have written articles that I appreciate very much. I just hope that the discussion will focus on the Bishan project itself, rather than turning to the motivation, education, title and educational background of the skeptics. That’s all. I can’t hear the voice of the villagers.
Comments from an anonymous reader
Interested in rural construction, you can learn about the practice of Yongji Puhan Community Comprehensive Agricultural Association. They started to mobilize the villagers by teaching rural women to dance and organizing mahjong competitions, and then organized collective production, established youth farms, collectively purchased fertilizer seeds, solved the problem of children’s enrollment, solved the market of agricultural products, and organized the processing of agricultural and sideline products. This is a rural construction with farmers and agricultural production as the main body.
On the other hand, the Bishan project questioned by the female doctor was inspired by the pigpen bar hotel run by the poet Xiao Guang Han Yu and his wife, and the founder wanted to copy and enlarge the experience of promoting the pigpen bar hotel (buying the cultural relics building as the ancestral home of farmers at a low price, repairing and transforming it according to his own taste as a cultural person and artist, and then using it for his own residence and operation) to counter the "low-end tourism" (tickets and noise) of Xidi and Hongcun.
At the beginning, the Bishan plan was based on the premise of enjoying a tasteful and cultured rural life first, aiming at saving cultural relics and expanding resources through art exhibitions and various literary activities, which was not a rural construction. The source of the Bishan project comes from the fetish of cultural relics and a way of life. Farmers and agricultural production are just a kind of life model and accessories of cultural relics, and they existed in the vision of the founder from the beginning as the other.
Dr. Harvard was very keen, and found the existence of "division" after two days of airborne, but what she didn’t make clear was that the starting point of the Bishan project came from "division", rather than in practice, the elite temperament and middle class identity of the founder led to "division". Bishan community refers to elite artists, intellectuals and high-end operators from outside, and this community does not include villagers.
If the Bishan Project is really interested in rural construction, it would be good to teach farmers to open Taobao shops and sell ham, bamboo shoots, tea and earth eggs with the popularity of the Bishan Project. Maybe the money for street lamps has already been earned, instead of repeatedly stressing how many bamboo shoots and earth eggs people who visited bookstores and art exhibitions bought, and several villagers were employed in high-end cafes and hotels.
